Friday, June 6, 2014

Ombudsman files pork plunder raps vs JPE, Jinggoy, Bong, Napoles, 5 co-accused


MANILA, Philippines - The Office of the Ombudsman on Friday filed plunder charges before the Sandiganbayan against those allegedly involved in the multibillion-peso pork barrel scam led by senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada, and Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr, Janet Lim-Napoles, and their five co-accused.

The five others are Jessica Lucila Reyes, Ronald John Lim, John Raymond de Asis, Pauline Labayen, and Richard Cambe.

Reyes is the former chief of staff of Enrile. Lim is Napoles' nephew. De Asis, president of the allegedly bogus Kaupdanan para sa Mangunguma Foundation, is said to be Napoles' driver-bodyguard. Labayen is Estrada's deputy chief of staff, while Cambe is Revilla's chief of staff.

Employees of the Ombudsman's office with four boxes of documents in two trolleys went to the Judicial and Records Division of the Sandiganbayan to file the cases against the accused.

The cases are expected to be raffled off next week and assigned to a division of the anti-graft court that will determine whether there's probable cause to make an arrest. The anti-graft court has 10 days to issue arrest warrants.

At the Philippine National Police headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City Friday afternoon, journalists saw that the road on Lt. Alagar Street in front of the PNP Custodial Center near the crime laboratory was blocked with traffic cones past 2 p.m.

Past 3 p.m., policemen carrying high-powered firearms were seen arriving at Camp Crame.

Respondents to the pork barrel cases are expected to be arrested by authorities from the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and brought to the PNP's Custodial Center once the warrants are issued against them.

source: interaksyon.com